Waterway Gas and Wash Company Tries to sell a fairy tale

January 29, 2008

Waterway Gas and Wash Company invited the Residents of University Heights to attend a meeting to explain how their gas station/car wash/convenience store will operate. They wanted to reassure us residents that it will be an operation we can live with.
The hours of operation will be (if approved by our Council members): Seven (7) days a week, from hopefully (for them) 7:00 am until 10:00 pm for the gas station, and from 7:00 am until 6:00-7:00 pm for the car wash. The convenience store (that may or may not sell lottery tickets, no alcohol for sure) will be open for the hours of operation of the gas stations. So traffic on our streets and Warensville Center Road will only go from 7:00 am until 10:00 pm. So we can rest the few hours the place is closed, right? Wrong: two or three times a week they will refill tha pump tanks, and that will be done at night, but the trucks are guaranteed to be noiseless... Have you ever seen or heard of a noiseless truck? When asked if they could predict that there will be no traffic on the two residential streets the answer was: "No, Madam, we cannot tell you that, there will be traffic". Let's talk about the $58,000 in tax revenues, it was just a number put up there, they said. There could be more or less, they don't know, they haven't done the projections... so our Council is buying something even without knowing what can come from it? Who buys that? Another issue: I still don't know if it is going to be a profitable business or not. Apparently, when it comes down to traffic congestion, the business will not be that lucrative, if we talk about the advantages for the City, suddenly, the business will be profitable. I asked several times which way was it, and they kept shifting the answers. Anyway, the two managers moving from St. Louis to come over here, will buy my house and live there, as if I buy that!

THIS IS A LETTER WROTE TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN PRESS, PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 24, 2008:

Car wash could bring ruin to neighborhood

Thursday, January 24, 2008 The Sun Press

To the editor:

We've been residents of University Heights for many years and live near the proposed site for the Waterway Gas and Wash Co.

We are completely opposed to the construction and operation of this type of business. We've come to love University Heights for its small community feel. A gas station/car wash does not fit what our mayor has called the "City of beautiful homes with a small town atmosphere." It is very difficult to have a beautiful home with a gas station butting up against it.

There are four other gas stations within 1.5 miles of the site as well as another car wash within a block. There are also other stores selling candy, cards and whatever else.

No matter how attractive the building is, it will still be a gas station/car wash. It will be a noisy eyesore for those who live around it and create additional traffic in an already congested area. This is a heavily traveled area for children attending Wiley Middle School.

Loitering may also be an issue since this will also be a convenience store. Property values will inevitably decline as no one will want to live in such an area. We certainly would not have bought our house had there been this type of business here then.

With gas stations comes the risk of fires, explosions and soil contamination, another safety issue because homes are in such close proximity. An ordinance passed in 1956 did not permit services accompanied by objectionable noise, fumes, odor, or so-called minute wash operations. If this doesn't qualify, we don't know what does.

We realize that in order for the city to thrive, we must welcome commerce, but to what extent are they willing to turn a blind eye to that which the community deems inappropriate and objectionable?

Brian and Sherisse Johnston

Albert and Annie Rawlinson

University Heights

January 24, 2008 Meeting Results Update

At today's workgroup meeting it became exceedingly clear that if our voices of opposition are to be heard by the City Council of University Heights, it will have to be the collective voices of the majority of University Heights residents. Apparently, it is not enough to be a concerned, frustrated, and fearful resident of Lansdale or Bushnell roads. No, our views on our street by itself does not matter. I bet our votes are going to matter when the time comes. It is now more important than ever that we work together whether we live on these streets or not. This proposed monstrosity of a car wash will affect all our lives, all our property values and it will have adverse implications for all our safety, quality of life and sense of pride in our community. We should all be concerned about what this infiltration in our neighborhood will mean for the quality of life and the perception of our city, property values and community life 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. Our opposition against this carwash, gas station structure is as much about our quality of life today as it is about our future. We are not a first ring suburb, not yet, but if this structure goes up, we will be well on the way to having to contend with a host of issues that come with having rental properties and negligent property owners. None of which this city will be able to deal with effectively. Please inform your neighbor, tell a friend, tell your colleague at work who lives in UH. You will be surprised how many UH residents still do not know about these plans! Send out emails, post your comments on this blog. Let the city council know that you matter, that we matter. Tell them that the taxes the city will get per year from this structure will not compensate for the short and long term losses they will suffer financially. Two weeks ago, this city council most likely believed approving the gasstation plans were a slam dunk! Our neighborhood activism and outrage made them think otherwise. After all, we vote in this city. We pay taxes in this city. We raise families in this city. We care about this city. We have a say in what happens in this city!Maghboeba

January 24, 2008 6:26 PM

Results of the residents' meeting held On January 24 at 4:00 pm

The good news of this meeting is that the residents of Lansdale and Bushnell Rds. are developing a good friendship and a strong sense of Community.
Now the bad news: Waterway will, supposedly, bring annually $58,000 in tax revenues that's a lot, right? According to our Mayor and some Council members it is. It is more than all of the residents of Lansdale and Bushnell Rds, can bring in, if they still live there that is.
The problem is that with all the noise, the traffic, the gas emissions, and the sense of being unsafe,the residents of these streets will have to leave. It will not be worth it to stay there.
Now we ask you: who is going to buy our headaches? Nobody will.
The only action we can take will be to rent out our properites to anyone that will want to rent it, we cannot afford to be choosy at this point. Would you?
The property values of the houses on those blocks will sink, because it won't be our priority to cut the grass, keep up with the breaking fixtures, the sinking garages, the curb appeal, the chipping paint on the outside. The property value of our houses will sink even further at this point. And if our houses' values sink, what will happen to YOUR HOUSE?
What will happen to University Heights? The value of the houses around Bushnell and Lansdale Rds. will start to sink, and then it will be the turn of Silsby, Washington, Traymore, Glendon, Loyola, Lalemant, Miramar, and this will have a ripple effect on all of the other streets in University Heights up to JCU ... and over. Of course, you can sleep well tonight, it is not going to happen tomorrow...but it will only be a matter of time.
We love University Heights, and we would not be happy if we have to go, but do we really have any other choice?
Is this what we want for University Heights, we ask you?
If you care about YOUR PROPERTY VALUE, and your home, the same way we do for ours, then contact us, you have our e-mail addresses and phone numbers, and we will tell you how you can help.
Write to the Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmen, and Councilwomen, remind them that this is their chance of being worthy of your vote, present and future. Tell them that this is a matter that does not concern only Lansdale and Bushnell Rds., but it is a decision that will affect University Heights in its entirety.
Remind the Mayor that this is her last term, and that she can be remembered as the most effective Mayor University Heights ever had, or as "Rothschild, she who sank University Heights".
Please, write to them.
We are collecting petitions, we need the signature of all the registered voting residents of University Heights to be considered.
Thank you

What this blog is about

We are a group of tax paying, law abiding citizens, that are at risk of losing the quality of life they chose for their families and themselves.

At various moments in history, we purchased our properties at Lansdale Rd and Bushnell Rd, believing that we had acquired a safe and quiet environment for our children and ourselves. We deliberately chose streets with low traffic, low pollution, and low noise level. Furtehrmore, we were looking for an environment that was safe from a legal point of view. Streets where we were not to worry about the safety of our children, the possibility that there could be criminal attempts to steal a few bucks for low level thieves trying to acquire drugs, or an easy booze. Streets that were relatively litter free.

All of this may now be at risk... If you want to know why, please keep reading

A company named Waterway Gas and Wash Company wants to transform a strip of retail shops into a gas station and other... the problem being that houses are practically attached to this strip.

We as residents are concerned that this structure will increase the local traffic on two streets raising several kinds of concerns.

We are collecting signatures for a petition AGAINST this project.

Will you help us?

What we ask you to do is the following: Add a comment to this blog showing your support. If possible, sign it with your name.

We hope that by showing the big number of people against this project, we may be in the position of being listened to.

Thank you for your help.